How to Be the Branch Herald

by

Lord Michael FitzGeoffrey, GdS, OLM Argent Scroll Herald

Taught as a 90-minute class at the annual Kingdom Heraldic & Scribal Symposium

Kingdom of An Tir

October 11, anno societatis XLIX (being 2014 in the common reckoning)

INTRODUCTION:

For every barony in the SCA, the office of baronial herald is a requirement. Even for smaller groups, the vast majority have a herald as well. But just what is the duty of this officer-of-arms? This class discusses the role of a branch herald considering both the responsibilities and the opportunities that it carries.

For purposes of discussion, this course will categorize the functions of a branch herald into three areas: administrative, ceremonial, and technical.

Administrative responsibilities are those for which the branch herald is responsible because s/he is an officer of the branch, and are similar to the responsibilities of every other officer in the branch, but not necessarily the job of other heralds.

The ceremonial roles of the branch herald are (to a greater or lesser extent) those tasks that set the herald’s office apart from other offices in the branch. When it comes right down to the fundamentals, ceremony is a great part what heraldry entails. This course will discuss what some of those roles are.

Finally, for better or for worse, heralds are viewed as technical experts. As such, the branch herald needs to know (or to learn) some of the basics, at least, of book heraldry, and voice heraldry, as well as where to go for further expertise. This course give a high- level overview of these areas, with links provided in an appendix where you can get more detailed information.

Before going on, while much of the information presented herein is useful at the principality, kingdom, inter-kingdom, and potentially Society levels, its scope is geared specifically to branch heralds of smaller groups, such as baronies, shires, cantons, and so forth. Furthermore, as this course is presented to an audience based in An Tir, it is customized accordingly.

Finally, while the responsibilities outlined in this course apply to the branch herald, it is entirely acceptable for many of them to be actually performed by deputies, trainees, or heralds-at-large, but with the branch herald’s supervision.

ADMINISTRATIVE:

Reports A branch herald typically has two different sets of reports to make on a regular basis. As an officer of the branch, you will usually need to make a report at your branch’s business meeting. I am including a copy of a monthly report as Appendix A to give you an idea. Your report should include such information as:  the current progress of any submissions from members of the branch or from the branch itself,  awards bestowed in courts of the branch (and, where known, to members of the branch in any court),  financial matters (purchases from the branch herald’s budget, acquisitions or disposals of property in the branch herald’s custody, etc.),  changes in officer or deputy positions,  news of interest to branch members from the heraldic community beyond the branch (such as changes in the submissions address, or heraldic job openings at the kingdom level),  needs for heraldic assistance with upcoming events & acknowledgment of heraldic helpers at recent events  opportunities for heraldic learning (upcoming online classes, symposia, universities, etc.)  and any other heraldic information that you feel your branch could benefit from.

Additionally, every calendar quarter you need to submit a report to the Demi-Lion Herald ([email protected]), or if your branch is in a principality, to the principality herald or designated deputy. A sample report is included as Appendix B. Besides sending your quarterly report to the appropriate senior herald, you should also send a courtesy/file copy to your branch seneschal, the baron & baroness (if you are a baronial herald or the branch herald of a canton, college, port, or stronghold within a barony), and to the baronial herald (if you are the branch herald of a canton, college, port, or stronghold within a barony). This report should follow prescribed forms, if such exist. Otherwise, please report the following:  Names (SCA & modern) of heralds active in the branch, together with their official titles (including “herald-at-large”, etc.), their membership numbers and expiration dates, email addresses, and phone numbers (with their consent, of course),  Heraldic services offered at branch events and meetings (including who was the herald-in-charge, who helped, how many consultations, etc.),  Court reports from the branch throughout the calendar quarter,  Consultations (get specific—what is being consulted on, who the clients are, who the consulting heralds are, etc.),  Any concerns, questions, suggestions, or complaints that you wish to bring up to the senior heralds.

To deviate for a moment from the duties of branch heralds specifically, please be aware that heralds-at-large, including Heralds Extraordinary, should ideally be sending in quarterly reports to communicate their heraldic activities up the chain. If they are not sending up these reports themselves (such as, perhaps, because they ’t consider themselves to be a “herald”, or they simply don’t like to do reports), please do your reasonable best to collect and report the information on their heraldic work. Why? Among other reasons, the Black Lion Principal Herald wants to know who is giving service worthy of award recommendations, and what heralds (official or otherwise) are active within An Tir. By knowing who is actively engaged in heraldic service, the kingdom (or principality) College of Heralds is better able to offer support and education, and discovers people that may be developing toward fulfilling offices within the College.

Event Support As the branch herald, you are responsible for ensuring that resources are available for meeting the heraldic needs of events, demos, and even meetings of your branch. This typically makes you the default Herald-in-Charge (HIC), unless other arrangements have been made. Even if you won’t be HIC at the event, as branch herald, you still need to be aware of the heraldic activities needed by the event and who is performing them. Depending on the size and purpose of the event, this could include:  Running & staffing a consultation table  Court heraldry  Processional/Presentations/Challenges  Field heraldry  Town Cry  Messenger/Courier Services  Protocol/Etiquette

If you are the Herald-in-Charge, please prepare to take care of the heralds and trainees working with you, by furnishing bottled water, sore throat lozenges, a shaded herald’s point, sunscreen, etc. (as appropriate). As HIC or as the heraldic officer of the sponsoring branch, people may bring you announcements that they wish to have the heralds make either as a town cry or during court. You will need to ensure that these are handled in an appropriately professional and orderly manner for several reasons. This helps carry out the will of the presiding nobles, save wear-and-tear on your heralds, and ensure the right people get the right messages at the right time. Even if someone comes to you with an “emergency”, you need to consider whether it is best to announce it as a town cry, send a messenger to the chirurgeon or event steward, or to seek higher permission before allowing it to go out. Official messages should not be inappropriately offensive, intrusive, silly, or controversial. Best practices for organizing town cry include:  Have an established point for the conduct of heraldic business (“herald’s point”). At a smaller event, this could be near gate, near the lists field, at your personal encampment, by a particular structure or landmark, etc.  Have a pre-determined schedule of when town cries will go out, with deadlines ahead of them for accepting announcements,  Come to an understanding with the event steward before the event on what you can expect from the event staff and what they can expect from you.  Bring needed materials (such as notepads, 3×5 cards, pencils, bottled water, tabards/baldrics, wastebasket, tables, chairs, etc.)

Deputies As the heraldic officer for your branch, you may have one or more deputies. Even if not, you should work to prepare someone to eventually succeed you when you are ready to resign from office. Deputies are a great resource. You can have:  general deputies – deputies whose particular roles are across-the-board  a contingency deputy – someone who steps into your office automatically if you should leave office unexpectedly. Often your contingency deputy will perform the tasks of your office any time you are unavailable to do so.  specific deputies – If you are a book herald, and don’t do voice heraldry, you might have a voice deputy, for example.  other lesser officers of the branch – For instance, perhaps in your branch the scribe may be under the administration of the branch herald, and may run any budgetary and reporting functions through your office.

Training Since heraldry is a technical field, you are encouraged to share your heraldic expertise with the branch from time to time. This can take the form of newsletter articles, occasional email broadcasts of interesting heraldic tidbits, classes at branch events or other gatherings. Also, you don’t have to do it all yourself. You can arrange for others to bring heraldic education to your populace or deputies/trainees, as well. You can get a small group together and hold commentary meetings on submissions currently before the College of Heralds. You can participate in (or even host) online or virtual heraldic training sessions. (Check out http://elmet.eastkingdom.org/.)

Financial Matters & Custody of Branch Property As the branch herald, one of the duties you will likely face is that of requesting an annual budget from your branch. If you have questions on when and how this is done, please contact your seneschal or exchequer. When determining what expenses to budget for, you may want to consider these ideas:  Photocopies for submissions forms, educational handouts, worksheets  Postage  Printing charges for advertising flyers for branch heraldic purposes (volunteer recruitment, events/contests, etc.)  Acquisitions for the branch’s heraldic library, including shipping, sales tax, labels, etc.  Heralds’ regalia (tabards, staff/baton, handbells, trumpets/horns)  Banner of the heralds’ badge (to mark heralds’ point at events)  Other office supplies (pens, pencils, paper, printer cartridges, Crayola™ Classic markers, light table, clipboard, portfolio, tape, white-out, eraser, whiteboard markers, overhead/digital projector, wi-fi hotspot, portable file storage boxes, etc.)  Prizes for heraldic competitions sponsored by the branch (vox-off, etc.)  Subscriptions to online services or periodicals of value to the branch  Water bottles, throat lozenges, sunscreen, moistened wipes  Pavilion, tables, chairs, wastebasket, ice-chest, etc. (purchase/repair)

Make sure that you follow the proper procedures for recording check requests, receipts, expenditures, and advances. Any branch property in your custody should be maintained and stored in a safe location, and should be catalogued and on record with the exchequer or chamberlain, unless your branch policies direct otherwise. It is good to include any changes in the status of your budget or branch property in your custody to the branch in its monthly business meeting. Also, while you may have certain branch property in your custody (especially the heraldic library), please do offer it for general use by the populace on a frequent basis.

CEREMONIAL:

Court If your branch is a barony, you may have frequent occasion to herald court. If you are serving in any smaller type of branch, these opportunities may occur lest often. You may still be asked to herald a royal court at a branch event, and may also be able to assist with royal court at kingdom/principality events from time to time. At some smaller courts, you may also be expected to provide for the court coordination and/or the court reporting. Your job in court boils down to: (1) speaking clearly and projecting so that as much of the audience as possible can make out what you’re saying, (2) keeping things moving along quickly, and (3) augmenting the pageantry of court, so as to make award recipients feel appreciated, the presiding royals/nobles look good, and to communicate effectively. Your job is NOT to tell the presiding nobles what to do (although there are valid occasions to discreetly prompt their words), and NOT to distract from the appropriate focus. Court coordination is the arranging of court business. Court heraldry is the execution of those arrangements. Court reporting is the recording of what business took place in court, principally so that it can be included in reports, and the awards bestowed can be listed in the Order of Precedence.

Ceremonies / Award Texts If your branch is a barony, you will have specific baronial awards in addition to the basic ceremonies identified hereafter, and will likely get many more opportunities to herald court than the branch heralds of other types of branches. There are some basic ceremonies that every branch herald should have in a repertoire. Here is a possible list. For guidance on crafting these ceremonies, please refer to the An Tir ceremonial at http://www.antirheralds.org/awards/ceremonial.html. Feel free to add more or ignore any that seem appropriate to you:  Opening and Closing of Court  Fealty of baronial officers, champions, sergeants, and retinue to the landed baronage  Investiture of branch officers and champions  Bestowal of baronial awards, favors, honorary citizenship, and the bestowal of tokens or scrolls of praise by the branch  Delivery of kingdom/principality awards that were officially presented previously, but for which the recipient was not personally present  Announcement of business or the results of competitions, etc.  Largesse donations  The exchange of gifts between dignitaries  Granting of university degrees (consult with your Ithra chancellor or other university representative)  Taking of a student, arcuarius, cadet, protégé, apprentice, or squire.

Regalia Another ceremonial aspect of heraldry is knowing and demonstrating the proper use of regalia, or the stuff that people wear that indicates things about them. Most things that we think of as regalia should only be worn by certain people. For example, only those of ducal rank may wear a coronet decorated with strawberry leaves. Only counts and countesses may wear a coronet with an embattled upper edge. Generally, when we see a coronet featuring pearls, we associate that with barons and baronesses. Only knights should wear a white belt, spurs when not riding, or bold chains around the neck. Only those who have received a particular award should wear the emblem of that award. People should only wear their own heraldic device. Only officers, champions, etc. should wear the regalia designated for them. The wearing of a red belt by someone who is not a squire could easily lead to confusion. As the branch herald, it is appropriate (when you are acting in your ceremonial capacity) for you to wear an unbelted tabard of the arms of your branch. This says that you are speaking as the voice of the branch (or its presiding noble). Banners of the branch arms may be displayed at branch events, or at branch encampments/pavilions at larger events, or by the presiding noble at his/her personal encampment or pavilion. Branch seneschals are not vested with the ceremonial identity of the branch itself, and should not display the branch arms as if they were the branch’s ruling noble.

Precedence & Award Rosters Precedence is basically the order of (social) seniority between various people. It is used for tracking who has what awards and who ranks higher than whom. The Dexter Gauntlet Herald maintains an online database of the Order of Precedence (“OP”) for the entire Kingdom of An Tir. It is at http://op.antirheralds.org/ and is very informative. When someone becomes a member of your branch’s populace, or when someone received any honors or awards from your branch, or when anyone in your branch receives an honor or award, it is a good habit for you (or a designated deputy) to confirm that this event is recorded in the Kingdom OP. All you need to do is check the listing, and if you find that any information is missing or incorrect, you need only send an email with the necessary information to [email protected]. Similarly, when someone in An Tir registers a device with the SCA College of Arms, or moves into the Kingdom, the Couronne Rouge Herald periodically adds their device to the An Tir Roll of Arms (http://rollofarms.antirheralds.org/). You can contact the Couronne Rouge Herald about the Roll of Arms at [email protected]. Precedence is often used to determine march order in a processional at the invocation of a tournament, seating order at high table for a feast, who toasts whom and in what order, and so forth. When I need to officially correspond with someone, I frequently look them up in the OP so that I can address them by their proper title.

Forms of Address The protocols of social etiquette exist to honor people, and not to offend. In the SCA we use styles to add to the pageantry of our experience. When someone doesn’t get it right, please try to educate them, but never snub or chastise them. In general, anyone in the SCA can be referred to as milord or milady. Those who have been honored with an Award of Arms or a Grant of Arms should be addressed as Lord/Lady (given name) or Lord/Lady (full name). It is customary in An Tir (and many other places) that those with a Grant of Arms are referred to as HL (name) or as His Lordship / Her Ladyship. Please do not confuse a with an honorific title. One often hears “His of Aquaterra” or “Her Ladyship Marie”. This is incorrect. The correct versions of each would be “The Baron of Aquaterra” and “Lady Marie”. Those with the title of Baron or Baroness, Viscount or Viscountess, and Count or Countess, as well as the heirs to the principality Coronets, typically use the style Your/His/Her Excellency. These people may also be addressed by their title and given name or title and full name, such as “Baron John”, “Viscountess Edith”, or “Tanist Alexander”. Finally, it is also appropriate to address them thus: “My lord Baron”, or “My lady Countess”, for example. Members of the Order of the Grey Goose Shaft, are allowed in An Tir to use “Arcos” as a personal title. This has no official standing in the Society, but is a matter of An Tir custom. Likewise members of the Order of the White Scarf often use the honorific Don/Doña in place of Lord/Lady. Technically, anyone with an Award of Arms is allowed to use these as a Spanish equivalent of Lord/Lady, but care should be taken to avoid confusion. Members of the Order of the Chivalry are usually knights, but some are Masters- of-Arms. (Technically, Mistress-of-Arms is also acceptable, but in practice females in the Order of Chivalry tend to use the masculine title). Knights, whether male or female, are usually addressed as Sir (given name) or Sir (full name). Female knights, can opt instead to be addressed as Dame (given name) or Dame (full name), but this is rare. Masters-of- arms are typically addressed as Master (given name) or Master (full name). Members of the Order of the Laurel and the Order of the Pelican are normally referred to as Master (given name) or Master (full name), if male, and as Mistress/Dame (given name) or Mistress/Dame (full name) if female. Dukes and Duchesses are given the style Your , and can be addressed as Duke/Duchess (given name) or Duke/Duchess (full name). One may also appropriately address them as “My lord Duke” or “My lady Duchess”. Territorial Princes and Princesses are accorded the style “Your ”. (The Prince and Princess of the Summits are actually styled “Your Alpine Highness”.) They may be addressed as Prince/Princess (given name) or Prince/Princess (full name) or as “My lord Prince” or “My lady Princess”. The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of An Tir are accorded the style “Your ”. They may be addressed in the same way that one addresses a territorial prince/princess on less that completely formal occasions, but properly they should be addressed as Crown Prince/Crown Princess (given name) or Crown Prince/Crown Princess (full name). The King and Queen of An Tir are accorded the styles “Your Royal ” or “Your Majesty”. They may be addressed as King/Queen (given name) or King/Queen (full name). One may also address them as My lord King or My lady Queen. Titles of office, such as sergeant, squire, apprentice, protégé, champion, etc. should not be used in the same way as the foregoing . That is, it is expressly discouraged to refer to someone as “Squire Daniel”, but “Lord Daniel Jones, squire to Sir Anthony Bowbreaker” is an appropriate form of address. When one is the sworn vassal of another, it is also appropriate for the vassal to refer to his/her liege as “my liege”.

TECHNICAL:

Submissions As the branch herald, members of your branch will likely come to you seeking assistance with registering names, devices, and badges. You should know how to help them. Submissions must use the appropriate forms, available on the An Tir Heralds website at http://www.antirheralds.org/submissions/forms/forms.html. The usual submissions cost $10 each, and should be sent to the Lions Blood clerk or to the principality submissions herald in Avacal and Tir Righ. Please see the website for specific details. When you send in submissions, please do not staple anything, or require a signature via the postal delivery. Even if you physically hand your submission to a herald who has been authorized to accept them in person, please pay with a check or money order, not cash. You will need 1 black-and-white line drawing copy and 1 colored-in copy of any armory submission, 1 copy of any name submission, and 1 copy of all relevant documentation in the packet. As branch herald, you should also keep a copy in your files, at least until the process is completed, as well as any archives of submissions from the branch itself.

Book Heraldry It is beyond the scope of this course to teach the rules of book heraldry, but here are some concepts that you should commit to memory, and some places to find out more. First of all, you should be at least passingly familiar with the structure of the College of Arms of the SCA, the An Tir College of Heralds, and where you fit into it, and the guidelines that govern how the SCA processes heraldic submissions. Ultimately, Corpora is the foundation of the SCA’s heraldic system. It establishes the fundamental purpose and basic structure of heraldry in the SCA. From there the Administrative Handbook of the College of Arms of the Society for Creative Anachronism (“Admin Handbook”) establishes the guidelines for what can be registered to whom and the duties of various heralds. The bulk of the remaining rules is found in the Standards for the Evaluation of Names and Armory (“SENA”), with further guidance in the Glossary, and the precedents of the various SCA sovereigns-of-arms.

FINAL REMARKS:

When you strip away all the demands of administration, all the formality of ceremony, and all the rules of technicality, a herald is essentially two things: an agent to communicate on behalf of someone else, and a resource for adding to the grandeur and flavor of our shared experience. This concept of being an agent of someone else means: (1) The authority behind our words is not our own, but delegated and derived from the principal we serve. (2) We must never presume to command those whom we serve, nor put words in their mouth. (3) We should fulfill our duty honorably, always remembering that our service reflects upon those whom we serve. (4) We should strive to worthily model the protocols and standards that we expect of others, teaching kindly, but by correct example. Hence, we should use proper forms of address, we should demonstrate good style in both names and armory, and we must be kind to those still learning our protocols. Heraldry is the sort of job that is diverse enough to fit a wide variety of interests, and yet cohesive enough to offer a ready-made social network across the expanse of the Laurel Kingdoms. Have fun with it, and you will always be home among your fellow officers-of-arms, even when you have moved on to other pursuits or locales.

APPENDIX A – Example Report for Monthly Branch Business Meeting APPENDIX B – Example Quarterly Report to Kingdom/Principality (p. 1/4)

APPENDIX B (p. 2/4) APPENDIX B (p. 3/4)

APPENDIX B (p. 4/4)